A Blackened Friday

Last updated on: December 5, 2008 at 10:54 am by Dave Dunham

A Blackened Friday 2008-12-05T10:54:33-07:00 Dave Dunham

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By now I’m sure you’ve all heard that a man was trampled to death at Wal-Mart while opening the doors for “Black Friday.” It’s a sad testimony to the greedy, self-absorbed culture that American consumerism (combined with total depravity) has created. How a mass of people can continue to walk over an actual human being lying on the ground is mind boggling to me, and then to find out that they have, by their combined efforts, killed this man is an outrage. Of course I can’t help but wonder how this will affect Black Friday.

Will the stamping to death of a human being tarnish this “Black” day? One can only hope that it will compel department stores to think differently about how they participate in the holiday. Some are already suggesting that such re-thinking will happen, and I can imagine that there will be some new safe guards that stores put in place for their employees, but in a world where the almighty dollar rules you can imagine that not much will change.

Black Friday is so necessary for many stores to stay out of the “red” that they will resist hampering the masses from storming their doors. Anything that may add to a decline of shoppers will be avoided like the plague. A little more blackened or not, I don’t suspect much will change in terms of Black Friday.

But as Christians we must think carefully about our part. I would love to say that were I one of those in the materialistic hungry stampede I would have bent to pick up this poor beaten down man, but I can see myself trying to jump over him (because of course this is better than stomping on him, right?) while I raced to get some new iPod gadget. I need to be careful that my judgment of these Wal-Mart stompers isn’t self-righteous. I am, because of my sin, all too likely to knock someone over on my way to grab a rare book off the store shelves. We are all sinners, capable of all sorts of sins, and we must beware of a self-righteousness that says I am obviously better than them. Jesus warns us well of such things!

So if you participate next year in this tarnished Black Friday you should beware of your judgments, and, perhaps even more significantly, beware of what you step on.

Featured

General Culture

Headline

Previous Post

December 4, 2008

RetroPost: Your Life in 12 Words or Less

Next Post

December 5, 2008 Moore to the Point on Twilight

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Asides Elsewhere Featured Film Games General Culture Headline Literature Music Of the Moment Podcast Politics RetroPost Sports Technology Television Uncategorized Viral

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz